Case Study

1. The grocery industry is a commoditized industry, which makes it difficult for grocers to sustain through differentiation. Buyer power is high and thus, cost leadership and operational efficiencies are critical. There is fierce competition amongst various grocery stores, with the main players such as Loblaw and A&P holding multi-banner stores in various market segments. Traditional grocery stores also lose some of their market share to drug stores, convenience stores and other retailers who have entered the industry. Threat of substitutes from fast-food and take- away outlets is not as prevalent, since many grocery stores have started stocking ready-to-eat meals and have deli services available for consumers. Competitive

Grocery shopping is more diversified and evolved than ever before. Individuals across the nation have access to everything from exotic products to unique delivery services. Often, specialty stores have limited locations whereas specialty services have a limited reach. However, two retailers have expanded to hundreds of locations while adhering to unexpected market positioning for previously untargeted market segments. Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s have become household names while also innovating beyond regional and national traditional chains. Despite comparable size in

Company records point out fresh meat, poultry, and seafood to be among the items people in Centralia spend the most money on. This representative 14.32% average plus the fact that meat quality is the second most important determinant of store choice can be seen as an attractive opportunity for Hi-Value executives to improve the quality of their butcher in order to attract more customers. Another opportunity for Hi-Value is to modernize their store to make it more attractive and easier for customers to maneuver around to make their shopping experience better. It may not be a bad idea as well to offer a greater variety of bakery choices along with fresher produce.

Circuit City was first established in 1949 under the name of Wards Company in Richmond, Virginia by Sam Wurtzel. What started out as a little storefront would later flourish into a national chain of superstores retailing electronics and appliances. Interesting enough, this retail giant would eventually close its doors and become known to many as one of American retailing’s great failures (Romero, 2013, p. 31). The thought that this small Richmond-based retailer would soon become a great success only to later end up as one of America’s great retail failure.

Sebastian S. Kresge opened his first store, regarded as a five-and-dime, in 1899. The low priced department store was appealing to the consumers and changed the retailing landscape for future department stores. By 1912, Kresge had expanded his network of stores to 85 and contributed to annual sales of $10 million. (Corporate History, 2013. www.searsholdings.com). The 1920’s posed significantly hard times for America, with the Great Depression and World War 1. During this time Kresge stores remained opened, provided Americans necessary items and jobs to support households across America.

In 1900 they sold their company for about 4,000. After they sold their bicycle company they made stove top parts.

The location of the stores is carefully evaluated, analysed by the customer catchments, customer demographics, cost of retail space and proximity of competitors and other existing PPL stores. The sizes of the stores are between 250mand 350m2with leases of minimum 5 years.

GNC was founded by David Shakarian in 1960s, and specialized in yogurt and other healthy food such as honey, grains, and “healthy sandwiches”. Due to increasing demand, GNC expanded stores throughout the United States during the 1970s. However, the emergence of other competitors in the external environment and poor management internally lead to a difficult period of time for GNC during the 80s. After Jerry Horn took over as President and implemented major changes in 1985, GNC had a fresh start and continued to grow. GNC is now the largest global specialty retailer of nutritional products:

C&B realized a major issue the company was currently facing - lack knowledge on specific items being sold. This has resulted C&B’s to implement changes to minimizing their losses. In addition, adding on to the stress of the company the Boston office has restructured their organization, changing how the company has organized staff for years.

2. Is Whole Foods’ strategy well matched to market conditions in the food retailing industry (one of the criteria for a winning strategy discussed in Chapter 1)?

And Harold Mayer. Company survived the collapse of Wall Street in 1929 and opened its first branch

many of its U.S. and Canadian outlets, the new store was located in a busy district of a prominent

Trader Joe’s started out in the 1950’s as a convenient store chain called Pronto Market’s and was found in the 1960’s and changed to Trader Joe’s. The stores begin to package innovative great tasting food and offered everyday low pricing. The store is ranked 24 on Forbes for best places to work and has over 300 stores throughout the U.S. The founder, Coulombe Trader Joe’s wanted to make Trader Joes’ a place where customers would enjoy to shop by creating a Hawaiian theme store that created a cheerful and happy environment (Anderson, 2013).

There have been many of these stores opened up. As of October 2009, many of these stores were opened in other countries, including China. China is one the main country that the United States does business with.

That caused new challenges in the global markets and so the retail organisations are trying to develop new strategies for reducing those issues. Thus they recognize the importance of diverse work force and develop new